Badger Kaizokudan: Ferris Island Arc
by CaptainBadger
Summary: After being forcefully blown away from the underwater island of Oz, the Badger Kaizokudan find themselves upon the trecherous Grand Line; what new adventures await on the little known "Ferris Island"? Original Characters, One Piece Universe.
1. Chapter 1: Fun for all the Family

That's right folks: A new Badger Kaizokudan adventure is in the making! This follows on almost directly from the Oz arc (except for one one-off I plan to write sometime soon), so make sure you read that before this if you're new to the series!

As usual: One Piece and all canon characters, places and ideas are copyright of Eiichiro Oda, not me. However, all original charaters, places and ideas are copyright of Richard Carr (Captain Badger) and Jimmy Hartill (Hertz/Arachna D Seth)

Also, unlike the previous arc, this is written exclusively by Jimmy Hartill, as opposed to myself (I will be contributing to our Fairy Tail fanfic too, so we've effictively made two joint accounts, if you like). Enjoy!

* * *

**Badger Kaizoku-dan: Ferris Island Arc**

**Chapter 1: Fun for all the Family**

The storm raged violently through the sky, jagged forks of lightning struck downwards and were absorbed meaningless into the ocean swell. Enormous waves of darkened water rolled and frothed, crashing against the hull of the infamous Badger Pirates ship, the Tanuki-Go. The ship itself was rocking and diving through the turbulent seas buffeted wildly by the impacts of the elements trying to force the ship under the water and into its eternal rest.

Captain Badger himself stood on the prow of the ship, the rainwater lashing his face and soaking his dark blue captain's jacket, the golden tassels plastered unceremoniously to his sleeves as he sipped from a bottle of whiskey. He was leaning against the balcony near the helm but had decided that trying to use the wheel in this condition would be ridiculous, Boboette was simply holding it in place, steering would've been impossible.  
At his side stood Locke, the hammer-head Fishman irritably trying to light a cigar in the torrential down-pour and finally giving up, pitching the lighter off the side of the ship to stand with his arms folded besides his Captain. They stood for a few minutes in the soaking hurricane before the Captain finally decided to ask the question  
"So, why aren't we helping?"  
"Well, you're the Captain sir, so you shouldn't be involved in something so simple"  
"True enough" Badger agreed, nodding his head  
"Mujina's a young girl, no way should SHE be trying to help in this rain"  
"Again, true" Badger conceded  
"Vince has the upper-body strength of a small prawn"  
"Sadly true…"  
"Penny and the bear don't seem interested in actually helping the crew right now"  
"Well, nothings more unpleasant than a wet bear"  
"And Boboette's manning the helm"  
"So, why aren't you helping?"  
"Oh, because I fucking hate him."  
"Oh yeah…" Badger grunted, hearing the heightened cries and yelps as Seth tried rapidly to hold the mast in place and row both sides of the ship using hyper-extended oars. It was entertaining to watch, but sadly counter-productive to the good of the ship in general. Badger sighed and ran a hand through his soaking hair "We have to find an island to dock at, we're about three hours away from completely cap-sizing"  
"Aye… I checked the maps, there's a fairly large one we were heading to before because Vince had heard they were opening a new art gallery there. We've kept a roughly straight course, we should be there soon"  
"Good work, any chance I could convince you to help Seth?"  
"None at all, I hope he ends up hanging himself from the rigging"  
"Fair enough, nice talking to you Locke"  
"The same Captain"

Ferris Island (so named for being in a strange pinwheel shape) was an island rarely visited due to its unfortunately close location to the entrance of the Grand Line. As it wasn't included on the log pose, very few people believed it a necessary place to visit.  
To be fair, if it wasn't for the fact they'd somehow been caught in a nightmarish storm the Badger Pirates wouldn't have either, but as it was, they'd docked at the port and were disembarking (or in Seth's case falling in a tired stupor) onto dry land.

They were greeted by a huge sign and a covered walkway that advertised the island as "The greatest theme park this side of Shabondy Archipelago!" which none of the crew could dispute seeing as they had no idea where Shabondy was (including Vince, which was worrying since he was the navigator). The whole island seemed to be white-washed and coloured in again only several shades brighter, a huge sheet of some see-through material was suspended high above them and prevented the rain that still raged outside from pouring down upon them. The brilliant red cobble-stones lined the path towards most of the attractions, a few blue ones lead towards the "Refined Tastes" buildings and a yellow one lead to "An adventure".  
"… anyone feel like following the yellow road?" Badger asked with a raised eyebrow  
"Nope"  
"No thanks"  
"Not in a million years"  
"Uh-uh"  
"Ook"  
"Bwaaaaah" Badger looked at the prone form of Seth and decided it might be a good idea to just leave him to rest for a while. Since the rides looked like they required physical effort, this gave him the almost ideal solution that would also mean Vince wouldn't have to say the sentence he was clearly aching to say.  
"Alright, Vince! You take Seth to see your art exhibit and make sure he gets plenty of rest, Mujina, Penny and Boboette, you three can go round the park. Me and Locke can examine the local taverns…"  
"Oh no you don't!" Mujina announced unexpectedly, stalking forward and grabbing her father by the arm. "You and I are having some serious father daughter bonding and that is that!"  
"But the rum!" Badger tried to argue as he was dragged away, his protests ignored by the fearsome decision of his daughter. This left the four remaining Badger crew members to try and decide what to do. Vince brightened up at the prospect of having a large party to see this exhibit, his pigeon chest swelling with anticipation  
"So Locke…"  
"Count me out, I'm going to stay on the ship and do some reading."  
"Oh, ummm, Penny? Would you care to indulge in some fine-"  
"No, I'm staying here too" Penny stated, following the Fishman back onto the Tanuki-Go despite the continuing storm. Vince felt a little disheartened and sagged visibly until his eye caught Boboette, with a bright sunny grin he turned to her, arms spread  
"Miss Gorilla!" only to meet with a leathery palm to the face. Vince stayed in position for a while as Boboette's hand was pulled down, smearing a stain of ink onto it and leaving Vince looking a little cross-eyed and discomforted "I, umm, assume that's a polite way of saying no?"  
"Ook" Boboette affirmed, loping off towards the tavern that Badger had been so interested in, Vince sniffed and looked thoroughly dejected at his harsh mistreatment  
"You'd never abandon me would you, Seth?"  
"Vince, you're one of my best friends" Seth wheezed "But if I could run right now you'd never catch me"  
"Fair enough" Vince sniffled, wiping away a single inky tear as he propped the First Mate up and the two staggered off towards the art exhibit.

_"This is ridiculous. I'm Captain Horatio Badger, I have a bounty in the millions! My first mate has punched through a cannonball, my cartographer is made of ink and nearly indestructible_" He looked to the young girl with the same black and white hair as him who was currently holding his hand and leading him around the park "_So why can she get me to do whatever the hell she feels like!?_"  
"Daddy, which ride should we go on first?" Mujina asked, a broad sunny smile on her face. Badger was momentarily taken aback, she'd been angry earlier and now she was all smiles? What was with this inconsistency!? He looked around, harried and flustered, before deciding on what looked to be a roller-coaster of some sort. He tried to take charge, as he did with the crew, and pointed to it  
"That ride looks fun"  
"Hmmm, I dunno, looks boring… Oh! Let's try the tea-cups first"  
"But… but you asked…" Badger was dragged along helplessly by his daughter and simply looked thoroughly and utterly confused by the events of the day thus far. "_What… is… HAPPENING!?_"

Penny looked apprehensively at the large bear sitting in front of her, he appeared to be fairly docile and, well… tame. Marty was a good partner, she definitely liked his attitude. She stroked her chin absent-mindedly with one hand while tickling under his chin with the other, her mind pre-occupied enough to barely acknowledge the happy growling emitting from his muzzle.  
"I need… a new target" she decided. She looked over to the corner where Boboette usually sat and wondered whether or not to attempt taming the gorilla… that was until she remembered the incident when Seth and Vince had tried to give her walnuts wrapped in a banana skin. She learned two vital lessons, Boboette disliked walnuts and to try and tame her would be tantamount to slapping a professional wrestler in the face. No… she needed another animal, after all, if she had a large group of familiars then combat would become far easier…  
It was here that her mind hit upon an idea that she would, in the not too distant future, regret to a huge extent.

Locke sat in his cabin with one hand supporting his strange shaped head and the other holding a well worn paperback between thumb and knuckle as he leafed through the thoroughly perused novel. It was something ridiculous about a human man and a human woman meeting and falling in love, somewhat like Seth and Mujina only he didn't intensely hate the main male character. The only problem was the girl's father who didn't like the man pursuing his daughter but admits in the last chapter he was just trying to protect her. It seemed odd to Locke. Fishmen weren't inherently protective of their offspring. That was why so many of them grew up to be trouble-makers…  
He sighed and shrugged as he slipped the bookmark into place and heaved his huge frame off his bed. He strolled to the door and casually walked into the corridor. Only to be confronted by a petite blonde haired figure stamping her food and glowering at him. He stood for a moment in uncomfortable silence, both eyes fixed in a cross-eyed glare at the fuming woman in front of him.  
"Uhhh… what's with you?"  
"Bad! Don't speak unless spoken to!" Penny shouted and wagged a finger, Locke was taken aback and momentarily silenced by this admonishing and simply blinked. Penny's face spread into a broad grin  
"Goooood Fishman, now, I want you to give me your left hand, come on"  
"…Why?" Locke asked, a tickling feeling of concern spread down his spine. Penny's happy smile quickly changed to one more similar to an enraged demon  
"Don't speak unless spoken to! Bad Fishman! Bad!"  
"I'm not your bear, woman! Would you stop with the Fishman, already? I have a name!"  
"You are a very bad Fishman!" Penny brandished a rolled up piece of newspaper "You will listen to orders or I'll be forced to discipline you!" Locke's face darkened as rage began to flood his veins, not the rage of a Fishman reminded of his years of servitude but of someone who already had a preference for solving his problems with violence being given little over discourse against his own free will.  
"You wouldn't dare…" Locke growled, the threat hanging in the air, but fell upon deaf ears. There was a soft pap sound as Penny tapped him on the nose with a newspaper. She had just about enough time to whisper  
"uh-oh…" before Locke's completely justified revenge fell upon her.

Captain Badger, scourge of the seas, was sitting precariously in a spinning piece of porcelain designed to look like a gigantic cup. The swirling motions were infinitely worse than the storm had been, at least the storm had a degree of predictability! The only thing controlling THIS swirling motion was the delicate hand of his beautiful yet (as he had only just recently realised) insane daughter.  
Mujina had somehow found a way to suddenly change direction mid-spin which made the whole experience for him even worse. He was a lucky guy, supernaturally so, but he could never predict which way this cup was about to turn! It felt like he was riding an incredibly indecisive bronco, the motion made him feel genuinely ill to the very bottom of his stomach as he held back the urge to vomit he could only hear Mujina's happy laughter.  
He didn't know why he hadn't known it before…  
His daughter was a demon.

It was PARADISE! Vince ran up and down through the Gallery looking at all the beautiful presentations of art. There was a sculpture of Sengoku on that far side which looked so life-like he wondered if it was his petrified twin. There was a contemporary piece consisting of two suspended planks that he found utterly fascinating and could not for the life of him understand, which of course made it so much more interesting.  
He was currently excitedly explaining to Seth the importance of his newest favourite  
"You see, it's an expression of the artists hidden rage, it shows through in the way the piece seems to leap off of the canvas and almost… attacks you as you look at it! What do you think?"  
"Bwaaaaah!" Seth moaned from a bench situated in the middle of the large faux marble room. The entire museum was silent. There were people _there_ but apparently you can't appreciate art if you… speak. He was still in some discomfort but not the agony of earlier, given another half an hour and he'd probably be back to normal… well, normalish.  
If he was left alone to recover, that was.  
"Seeeeeth, show an interest" Vince whined, his lip trembling ominously. The first mate of the Badger Pirates, in incredible pain, sat up. And blinked at the picture Vince had been talking about  
"Its'a picture of'a fist… punching" he mumbled blankly, wondering if he was missing something. Judging by Vince's ecstatic squeal it wasn't anything important  
"That's another fine interpretation! It could be him lashing out at the society forcing him to manufacture more and more art, ooooo, I knew you'd be good at this"  
"M'kay…" Seth murmured as he rolled back to sleep, dreaming that Mujina and the Captain were having a lot more fun.

Badger wasn't. But Mujina was. She dragged her reluctant father (for the duration of today he was apparently 'daddy') to every single stall and ride she could think of. This had also included playing a crooked game of find the lady which Badger unthinkingly won without questioning how fair the man was intending it to be. After a hasty explanation that he was just naturally lucky and how he'd try to curb it in the future, he'd taken leave of the stall to buy some candy floss since Mujina had just commented that she wanted some.  
Since they were taken a break while she quickly bit chunks out of the pink fluff he decided to finally ask  
"Errr, Mujina, I gotta be honest I don't understand… well, why we're going round the park? Wouldn't ye be happier doing this with Seth?"  
Mujina didn't reply for a while she just chewed on her Candy Floss for a while quietly. Badger was about to seriously question his sanity for a moment, asking a crazy woman what she wanted was pretty… unwise. But Mujina didn't seem angry just… sad? Why did that feel worse? Why was her appearing upset infinitely worse in his mind than her beating the snot out of him? He was about to say something but she interrupted with her answer  
"Because… you're my dad. We never spent time together when I was little because you were out at sea… I wanted a few memories with you… I don't want to live my life not being able to say I love my dad." Mujina sniffled once as she finished and wiped at her eyes as she got to her feet "You feeling like a few more rides? Or do you want a drink?"  
Badger knew the answer he wanted to say. But he also knew the right answer  
"A few rides would be good for an old seadog like me, come on. We got all the time in the world" Mujina smiled and that smile made any amount of discomfort on an inane, banal ride worthwhile.

Vince was sipping on a glass of mineral water as he perused the gift shop and wondered if, as Pirates, he should actually pay for anything. He was still caught in debate when he noticed a piece of work by the door which he hadn't seen when he came in. He frowned and peered at it, why did it seem strangely familiar…  
Seth had a new addition to things he didn't like waking him up. Vince screaming in outrage and shock. It was slightly different to his screams of panic and screams of joy since it had more of an Eeeeeeeeek quality to it than his usual screams. Wearily he got up and dragged himself to the quivering figure of his friend  
"Wha's wrong, Vince?" He slurred as he yawned broadly  
"Th-th-they stole my picture!" Vince cried, tears of ink rolling down his cheek in a way that most emo kids wish could happen to them. Seth blinked a few times as he stared at the picture Vince's quaking finger was indicating. It was a simple inky drawing of a stick figure and a small house, the credit was an artist called Gabriangelo.  
"You sure? It doesn't look as good as your usual stuff" Seth said, trying to sneak a compliment in there to calm him down (he barely knew the difference between stick men and a map, but in his own mind this statement was accurate)  
"It was my very first one! I left it in my house when we left the Islands! Ohhhhhhh, someone stole it! I'm-I'm", Vince blubbered as he tried to find the appropriate words to express how upset he was. Seth looked sympathetic and patted his friend on the shoulder  
"Don't worry, Vince. I have the solution"  
"Y-you do?" Vince snivelled, looking up at him with a face that screamed 'My mascara is running, and I don't care my boyfriend dumped me'. Seth nodded at his friend and smiled a re-assuring smile.  
He reached up, elbowed the glass in, and carefully grabbed the picture, pulling it free with one move. Vince was in awe as Seth handed it to him and squealed in delight as the picture returned safely to his hands, he hugged it to his body and small smears of ink in the shape of hearts flowed around his skin. Seth smiled happily, glad he'd done a nice thing. Until heavy iron gates closed suddenly and a voice boomed out  
"Gentlemen! We have art thieves in our midst! We must capture and destroy them for the sake… of ART!"  
"Oh for the love of southern fried potatoes!" Seth shouted in exasperation. Four ominous figures appeared, their silhouettes glaring at Seth and Vince. It looked like, against all odds, they'd found another fight…

There is luck, which Badger specialises in. There is fate, which he doesn't. And then there's completely blind impossible co-incidences, which tend to happen of their own accord regardless of his interference. Finding a log pose at a shooting gallery? Was one of these. He simply stared in awe at his fortune, and for someone who makes his own luck (literally) getting lucky for once is all the more special.  
Mujina noticed too and look at her father in confused silence as she tried to work out what he'd seen. Badger had stormed up to the stall in what looked, worryingly, like a swagger. He grinned a broad toothy grin at the stall-owner  
"Hello there, my dear carnie" He beamed, the grizzled man behind the stall sniffed once and scratched an improbably hairy arm-pit  
"Whut?" He growled  
"I was just going to ask… would you mind if I had a go at your shooting game? I'm not a brilliant shot, but I might get lucky."  
"Yeah, sure, whatever" The man sat back and handed over a small air rifle. Badger smiled as he grasped the gun and felt a slap of stone on his wrists. He blinked in confusion until he noticed the look on the man's face  
_"My god…_" he thought "_I know that grin. I've MADE that grin! That's the grin of someone who's about to remove all your advantages and kick the ever loving crap out of you_"  
"Yer get three shots, and a Seastone cuff. Just to stop you using any Devil Fruit powers. You better get a target in those three shots… otherwise your ass is mine."  
Badger suddenly decided to look at what else was on offer in the gallery. There were a large assortment of Pirates and Marines hanging around at the back in rags holding up bulls-eyes, their eyes imploring Badger for his shot to set them free. This suddenly seemed to be a much worse idea than previously seen. So this is what it felt like for your luck to suddenly turn…  
"Alright," Badger announced "I'll do it"  
"Dad, are you sure?" Mujina sounded worried for him, he wanted to admit that this was probably round about Seth's level of decision making but didn't want to worry her  
"I'll be fine, I've got a plan if those goes wrong anyway" He gave her as best a smile as he could manage, "Just promise me you won't try to win back my freedom yourself, stick to what I tell you" Mujina looked conflicted for a few seconds before nodding.  
Badger turned back to the stall and took a rough grip on the rifle, he flicked at what he thought was the bolt but after a few hollow clicks was soon revealed as the safety. He shouldered the stock as best he could and aimed at the Log Pose. It should be a clean shot…  
He fired and felt the gun kick-back, the pellet shot out and missed by a few inches to the left. Badger corrected his aim and aimed at the same spot. He fired but felt a shoulder gently nudge his arm as he did. The pellet missed again and instead hit one of the unfortunate marines who quickly dropped to the floor and groaned in pain as he tried to get up.  
Badger glared at the stall-owner who simply shrugged as if to pretend he'd done nothing. He took a moment to check the stock, lined the barrel up as best as he physically could and noticed a scope on the Rifle. He lined the scope up carefully so it was facing the bulls-eye and with an inkling he might be lucky, squeezed the trigger… and saw the pellet limply fall out the end of the rifle and hit the floor.  
With a withering glare he handed over the Rifle and saw the stall-owner shrug,  
"Bad luck, looks like it ran out of steam."  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure the game's perfectly fair for a normal man. Mujina go and fetch him"  
"Who, dad?" Mujina asked looking concerned, Badger's face showed an enormous worry that Seth was rubbing off on his daughter  
"Make an assessment!" He shouted as two surprisingly large men hustled Badger behind the tent and into manacles. He looked around the tent with a disgruntled sigh "Any of you got a pack of cards?" he asked in vain hope…

As far as first outings into the Grand Line go, the Badger Pirates weren't having a particularly great one…


	2. Chapter 2: There's a Moral to Everything

**Chapter 2: There's a Moral to everything**

Balloons floated cheerily through the mess of confetti that seemed to always hang in the air around Ferris Island, loud golden horns were hung on candy striped poles and blaring out news from across the port of children's birthdays and about special offers currently going on for a limited time only! Which would have held more stock with the crowd if it wasn't played every day of the year.  
The beloved daughter of Captain Horatio Badger was having, what her father affectionately called for her (and decidedly less affectionately for the rest of the crew) a Seth moment. This was where she had an extremely obvious answer to her problem but was utterly unable to see it. She ran through the lanes of Ferris Island, dodging the cheery crowds of families as they wandered aimlessly through the enormous amusement park, her shoes clacking on the smooth floor as her dress flounced behind her.  
Who was she meant to be getting? It didn't make any sense to her… She stopped at a junction and chewed her lip as she thought about it a bit more rationally. Her father must have meant someone in the crew but… but he was locked up in a slave tent! She'd gone her whole childhood wishing that she could meet him and now she might lose him forever and… no, that wasn't helping. She had to calm down…  
He was playing a shooting game… a shooting game.  
She slapped her fore-head as the realisation struck her. That was just embarrassing… maybe Seth WAS contagious. She immediately headed towards the ship with the plan her father had constructed gradually unfolding in her mind.

///////

The glistening white pillars of the art gallery were stained red by the warning alarm lights that now blared out a very potent and very ear-splitting siren. Four shadowy figures were storming down from a hidden office hidden by the far-side of the entrance, for some bizarre reason there was dry-ice pouring into the room and giving them a mist to stroll through. It seemed a little… unnecessary.  
Seth groaned audibly and stretched his stiff and aching muscles, this was going to be very unpleasant as Vince was already cowering behind him and looking out with big fear-stricken eyes. The four figures finally appeared near them and with a synchronised clap the siren and lights ended leaving the smoke to dissipate. As the lights returned to normal it was a bit easier to see them all.  
Three men, one woman, one of the men was a giant in a pale green turtle-neck and checkered suspenders, his muscles rippling in a pose that looked suspiciously like an ancient statue. Another had a dark and moody countenance and looked like he was (or at least dreamed and claimed to be to anyone who asked) a Vampire, complete with tight black long sleeved shirt and a beret. Seth immediately decided he would hit him first. He didn't care if the other three rushed him, a beret was unforgivable. The woman wore enormously thick glasses and sneered disdainfully at both of the "art thieves" with the distinct implication that she thought if you were going to steal art it may as well be GOOD art. The last man looked a bit more awkward in a paint-stained smock and a shock of golden hair, a brush still in his hand and a mildly apologetic look at Seth and Vince.  
There was silence for a moment and was broken by the woman sneering  
"Can we just let them take it? It's not exactly good"  
"What!?" Squeaked Vince, out-raged, moving himself out from behind Seth and pulling himself up to his full, if small, height, his chest puffed out angrily and his eyes blazing with a fury that only a slighted artist can muster.  
"As far as art-work goes, that example is rather inferior, its simplistic tones do well to comment on the nature of people's tastes and its most likely inspired by Picasso"  
"Ohhh, yes, quite so, very astute" Vince gushed, not used to receiving praise that was actually sensible. Seth looked a bit confused, but remained tense, the big man was eyeing him up aggressively but he was determined who was first. A beret was an _invitation_ to an ass-kicking.  
"But the fact remains… it isn't an amazing piece, the lines could use rather a lot of work and, to be brutally honest," a phrase which is always disconcerting coming from someone who's already tactless "it appears to have been drawn by a 2 year old."  
"That's… that's because it was" Vince stated, confused  
"You started arting when you were two?" Seth asked, deciding that he saw no point in finding the right word he'd just make up his own.  
"Well, yes. I ate the Sumi Sumi no mi when I was a baby and…"  
"Save it for the Prologue collection!" Seth announced, channelling a strange authorial force "Can we just get the Cap'n and leave?" he asked, already exasperated at how long this was taking. A sudden lightning bolt outside and a surprisingly intense downpour reminded him why they couldn't. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, he didn't like continuity…  
"Ms Cricket" The big man rumbled "May I… dispose of these charlatans!"  
"Who's Charlotte?" Seth and Vince asked in unison, the big man smiled as Ms Cricket nodded, Seth paused for a few seconds. Decided it was, indeed, kicking off and immediately launched himself in a flying kick at the man in the beret. Surprised, the beret was hurled backwards by the force of a sudden foot smacking into his jaw and tumbled backwards over and over, his beret floating in mid-air for a few seconds. Seth caught it, tore it in half and threw both halves to the floor  
"I can't stand berets" He explained to the two fairly normal people standing next to him and was immediately blasted into a far wall by a punch from the huge man. He was hit pretty hard judging by the fact he ricocheted and crashed through a bench in the process, groggily, he got to his feet and realised that a big man would be that strong.  
"Come, monsieur voleur… I shall show you la art justice"  
"Are you possessed?" Seth gasped, but had little enough time to comment as he rolled to dodge another punch, reaching for his spear and… "Huh!?"

////////

Mujina held her arms over her head as she ran onto the ship, the rain still lashing the deck as she hurried to the main cabin. She slipped through the door and quickly tried to ruffle her hair dry. She took a few steps forward and tripped over the distinctive red pole of Stinger, she sighed in exasperation, Seth should be more careful, leaving his spear lying around would be the death of him one day. After a moment's pause, she continued her search for the only one who could save her father.  
She shrieked suddenly as she saw Penny hanging from the ceiling, a rope tied around her arms and legs and her blonde pig-tails dangling as she gently swung from side to side, a newspaper stuck in her mouth. Mujina was speechless for a moment as her mouth opened and closed trying to think of an explanation. After she removed the paper, Penny sadly announced  
"I was a bad human…" Mujina decided that what she didn't know wouldn't scar her, so helped the new navigator down as gently as she could. The two girls wandered over to the slightly ominous door (as a door itself it was quite normal, it was the very simply worded 'Never Disturb' sign that made it ominous) and knocked.  
There was an irritated sound as someone rose from their bed and stalked to the door. It swung open and Locke glared down at the two women, a romance novel in one hand and a bottle of rum in the other. The image was a little… strange.  
"What?" Locke grunted. Mujina suddenly had some doubts about this plan being the best…

///////

It has to be said, Horatio Badger does not enjoy the shackles of Kairoseki. Especially when he's trying to play Texas Hold'em and suddenly finds himself severely lacking in his trademark luck. But, after several games, he finally had a good hand, a flush of Spades. He kept his face as impassive as he could as the man opposite him shifted awkwardly in his seat, what was he going to do? With a final tense move the man slid all of his chips into the pile.  
All in.  
Badger followed suite and with a triumphant flourish, threw his cards down  
"10 high flush!" He announced proudly, the other man blinked for a few seconds before showing a pair of tens in his hand.  
"And you have Full house" Badger announced hollowly as he sat back. Well, that was the last of his match-sticks. Thank god that none of them had any cash to play for. The tent was dark, the thick green tarpaulin blocked most sunlight and the stench from some of the older slaves was beginning to get unbearable. Everyone looked to be wearing the same brown rags except for him, the new guy. He didn't wish to consider how these rages turned brown. He sighed as he leant back against the canvas walls and heard a loud rumbling from besides him  
"You are… a Kaizoku?" Badger looked at the enormous dark-haired man sitting opposite him in confusion, the man looked to be the size of a small boat with muscles rippling over his frame. Ignoring the horrific scars and the fierce glower in his eyes that would have terrified a sea-king, he looked alright so he nodded  
"Yeah, I'm a Pirate…"  
"What is it like… to have a Kaizoku Kazoku" A pirate family? Dear lord the man was a monster of puns.  
"It's great, my friend. When we get out of here I heartily endorse the idea of you following your dream." The enormous man nodded his head and went silent again. Badger sighed and knocked his head against the wall. Where was Mujina?

////////

The crash of the big man's fist on the ground sent cracks through the floor and chunks of polished marble flew up into the air in great crags. With a surprising agility, Seth landed on one of the raised pieces as it was being forced up and kicked off, the stone falling backwards as he lunged at the green jumper that filled his vision. His fist collided with the muscled mountain's nose and after a momentary grunt, he threw all his body-weight behind it to knock him off balance. The big man barely moved. He grabbed Seth's arm and hurled him unceremoniously across the floor and into the far wall besides the door, passing by Vince in the process, an enormous crash coming up as the gate itself bent under the impact.  
He shakily got up and staggered around for a few seconds before noticing that the bars were now curved. He was very carefully reconsidering this strategy…  
"OK… OK… what the hell is he?"  
"He seems to be very strong with a good pain tolerance, he might even be hardening himself against physical attacks, what's that thing the Captain mentioned? Tekkai?… but he's slow… maybe you need to hit him in a weak-spot, like his left knee, he doesn't seem to favour it" Vince blinked in surprise at Seth's bewildered face and was rewarded with being picked up, shaken a little and a slightly aggrieved voice saying on every intermittent shake  
"Why…didn't… you… tell… me… this… sooner!?" Before Vince could answer, Seth was gleefully prising a steel bar free to use on the poor giant. "I know your weakness, I know your weakness" He sang cheerily. The big man looked confused for a moment and was taken by surprise when a large metal rod collided with as much force as someone of Seth's considerable strength could muster. The leg bent inwards, the man looked in pain and suddenly tears rolled down his face  
"Quel Damage!" he wept heartily "My poor, slightly less muscular leg, I feel so self-conscious…" He cried into his hands for a moment as the woman fussed around him telling him his leg was perfectly acceptable and that it was ridiculous to be upset by an idiot like Seth anyway.  
Seth turned to face Vince with a mixture of disappointment, rage and mild admiration for picking out someone's weakness that only THEY THEMSELVES could see. This look was interrupted by the big man sighing, blowing his nose and beaming at him  
"I'm OK now, let us continue le justice!"  
"Oh, please, don't feel pressured on my acc- HOLY CRAP THE FLOOR!"

//////////

The small group lead by Mujina hurried down the streets as quickly as possible considering the group consisted of herself, a reluctant Fishman and a small blonde girl riding her bear and keeping a fearful eye on said Fishman. The stall-owner looked decidedly joyful to see them rolling up helplessly in front of him and grinned lasciviously at the two girls expecting they may fetch a high price.  
"We are here for my father" Mujina announced, Badger's eyes lit up from within the tent and he leaned out to see his daughter and crew  
"I see… so you intend to win my shooting game, do you?"  
"You're what?" Locke asked, Mujina beamed at her logical conclusion  
"Of course, you're a famous sharp-shooter, all you need to do is shoot that target and we'll win the compass and my father's freedom" Locke shared a glance with Badger as he lined up to the targets. He held the gun in his hands and felt the cold slap of the Kairoseki cuff  
"So you can't cheat" The merchant grinned showing a few golden teeth.

Locke looked at the gun, then to the targets, to the merchant, to Badger, fully assessing the situation as best he could. Using this gun, it should be possible to lock the shot and strike the first target with relative ease except that the sight was twisted 3 degrees to the left making aiming slightly harder for someone unaware of how these weapons worked.  
After a few moments thought and an extensive examination of the gun, Locke felt he was certain what he would have to do to achieve his goals.  
He levelled the air-gun, at the target, the scope aligned in just the right direction to hit the bullseye… dropped his hand, drew a small pistol and shot the stall-owner square in the chest.  
"What!? What are you doing Loc-"  
"Waaaaaaiiit" The fishman intoned evenly. He pulled the trigger and the bb hit slightly left of the bulls-eye. "I knew it! The barrel's warped too, cheating scum-bag"  
"You just SHOT him! It's impossible to cheat more than you just did!"  
"We're pirates, Mujina!" Locke roared "By the definition of the word we don't have to play fair for what we want! I'm not going to go for the hardest possible route when my captain's at sake!" Locke snorted in disgust as he liberated the keys from the stall-owners body and freed himself from the Kairoseki. Swinging the keys nonchalantly he moved back into the base of the tent and began to unlock the cuffs holding the prisoners down.

Mujina felt a strange emotion in her chest… Locke's actions had been reprehensible but she felt… necessary? She couldn't understand it… she wanted Seth. Maybe he could help, this is one of the few things that she trusted her boyfriend to understand. She sighed deeply and heard a voice from behind her  
"You're right, Miss Mujina. We shouldn't kill for no reason, a life can never be returned. But this man was a slaver and was willing to enslave all of us for his own greed. Locke may have just saved an untold number of people from having their freedom stolen" Penny was standing next to her with a hand laid on her shoulder  
"But… does that justify it?" Mujina asked feeling some tears welling up in her eyes.  
"No… and that's why it's so hard" Penny smiled sympathetically and Mujina found herself nodding, wiping away the tears and concentrating again. They would have to leave now… there was no way this would go unnoticed. She grabbed the Log Pose from the prize display and stopped besides Penny as she made her way out  
"Penny… thanks."  
"It's OK… you can make it up to me by apologising to the Fishman for me" Penny suddenly seemed to return to her earlier self and hastily cowered behind Mujina as Locke came out again with a large crowd of unwashed pirates and bounty hunters running for their freedom. Badger stood besides Locke as he rubbed where the Kairoseki, none too pleased with the sensation.  
"Right! We're off!" Badger announced as the small crowd dawdled its way into the street, Badger stopped as a thought occurred to him and turned to face the large dark haired man he'd talked to in the tent  
"We'll be seeing you"  
"I'm sure of it" The dark haired man announced as he too stalked off into the city much to the screams of terror from the normal crowds. Slightly perturbed, Badger waved a hand and gathered his crew as they set off (hastily corralling Marty from devouring the entire islands stock of Candy Floss).

//////////

Seth bounced unceremoniously off the iron grates of the door as the big men flexed once more and laughed triumphantly. He got up unsteadily as he saw Vince cowering in terror behind him  
"Oh don't help, Vince, I can do this aaalllll by myself"  
"Oh, thank goodness! I was terrified then!" Vince sighed in relief as Seth winced visibly, being quite unused to being on the receiving end of these idiotic statements. He took a step forward and was taken a bit by surprised as one of the iron bars gradually leant forward and landed with a clunk on his skull. He blinked for a second before keeling forward and landing on his chest, eyes spinning.  
"Seth!" Vince squeaked as he approached his friend's prone form "Seth! Speak to me! Are you hurt?" Seth wanted to reply but decided that now may be a good time to continue his recuperation and said nothing. Vince got to his feet, trembling with fear and stood before the large man with his hands clenched by his sides

"Now… Now see here! You are being a frightful brute to my dear friend Seth!"  
"Voleur… you are like us, you see the beauty of art" He announced simply. Vince was slightly taken aback before nodding happily and agreeing  
"Oh yes! Art is wonderful! If I didn't have my art I don't know what I'd do!"  
"Well, you see how we feel then" He rumbled. Vince looked conflicted for a moment before saying slowly  
"Yes… but that art is special! I painted that when I was only young, it encapsulates my young spirit and youthful optimism"  
"Ohhh, I see. Nevertheless, we bought this piece fairly, is it not possible you are mistaken?"  
"No. I am positive, sir. I must have it back" Vince replied stoutly. The big man sighed in a manner that implied the sky itself had fallen and he was now charged with putting it back up.  
"I see."

Before Vince could blink a fist flew out and struck at his side bowling all the way through in a shower of black liquid, completely removing Vince's mid-section (although it restored with fair rapidity) and finally ending up with Vince not moving from his spot but the large man having a hand completely covered with ink.  
"What is this!? My hand is covered in ink!" He stated, clearly not believing it obvious enough from the appearance. Vince looked offended at this  
"You have me on you! Now see what you did! You're lucky I've been practicing emergency inking or that would have killed me!" Vince waved his hands and was quite surprised to see the large man's hand move as well. He blinked as he tried again waving his hands in front of his face he saw the big man's suddenly lunge forward and move like an enormous fan in front of him.  
"David, what are you doing?" Ms Cricket asked with a click of her heels.  
"I do not know, Mademoiselle!" The large man finally identified as David replied with a look of grave concern in his eyes, he had no idea what was going on. Unless…  
"You can control what your ink is touching!?" David asked, shocked that a power so great was contained within this young slip of a girl (well, Vince IS pretty effeminate, we can probably forgive him the assumption). Vince blinked a few times before suddenly pounding his palm with his fist  
"Of course!" Unfortunately for David. This motion caused him to strike his own knee and he howled in pain  
"Quel Damage! My massively muscular hand has stricken my slightly less muscular leg" A look of agony covered his face as Vince's finally filled with the light of someone who, while a complete coward, has found a way to finally hurt someone else.

With all the grace of someone with no fighting experience, Vince began to slap at David and watched gleefully as David's hand followed this pattern and ACTUALLY hurt him.  
"Suffisant! Suffisant! I surrender!"  
"MWAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Vince laughed maniacally as he forced the large man back, finally enjoying the feeling of being in control even as he ran out of breath from the constant slapping. Then there was a splash. And the golden haired man was standing next to them with a bucket of water in his hands. He looked a little awkwardly at the two of them.  
"Well, it IS just ink" He shrugged as the ink clearly ran off from the large man's hand. His expression was not something you would want to see, particularly if you were the cause. Vince was suddenly very, very scared and had no idea where his former courage had come from as he dropped to his knees with black tears running down his face and his hands clasped together.  
"Oh, please, please, please don't kill me! I'll never do it again, I don't know what came over me, puh-leee-hee-hee-heeeeaaaassse" He blubbered as David glared down angrily at him  
"Not so brave now are you…"  
"No! Not at all!" Vince cried, David had no intention of mercy as he clenched his water soaked fist and got ready to strike the finishing blow.

"Ya did good Vince" A cheery voice announced  
"Seth?" Vince asked in confusion, he looked up and saw a figure spinning over and over in the air, a blur of orange shirt, blue trousers and dark reddy brown. Before Vince could question this, David was poised and glaring upwards at the spinning form  
"Not had enough Monsieur Voleur? Well, let's see what you have left, TEKKAI!" His body suddenly tensed as he posed in one of his flexing motions. It seemed to become stronger and harder just by appearance, bullets would probably bounce off of it, he looked like a perfect statue. Vince felt a surge of worry for Seth and was about to say so when the First-Mate made his move he growled the words out as his spin gradually slowed  
"Aerial" He clenched his grip on the unidentified path of colour  
"FIERCE!" As he slowed and moved the spin into momentum for the weapon Vince recognised it happily as it connected with a loud crash to David's chest  
"TAIL!" There was a crash of marble as the floor was torn up by David's movement backwards, his body didn't change its pose but did end up spinning head over heels as he slammed all around the gallery, moving like a pinball as the walls crumbled and buckled from the impact as he hit each one and ricocheted off again.  
Seth's motion landed on the ground and as the posed David shot towards him he swung once more with a loud shouting of no particular words and crashed the flying statue back into the floor on his side. Seth raised the weapon and showed the heavily dented iron bar that had fallen on him clenched in his hands.  
"If he's not unconscious now…" Seth panted "We're going to need one of those Buster Call things…"

Before Vince could say anything to him there was a sound of slurping paint as a blue circle was drawn on Seth's arm.  
"Must be depressing huh?" the golden haired man asked  
"… yeah" Seth sighed as he sat down on the floor and toyed with a piece of masonry "I wanna be an oyster…"  
"Whu? Seth?" Vince asked, deeply concerned  
"Colour's Trap" The golden haired man explained "I was taught it by a girl in a café. Now, he's out of it, what do we do with you?"


End file.
